Dog Waits by Grave – Six Years

Greyfriar’s Bobby

In 1858, in Edinburgh, Scotland, a man named John Gray died and was buried in an unmarked grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Few people took any notice. But John Gray’s Skye Terrier, Bobby, was a different kind of person.

For the next 14 years, Bobby stayed by the grave, day and night. A local butcher threw scraps to him every day, and people began coming to the graveyard at one o’clock in the afternoon when a cannon was fired from Edinburgh Castle to mark the hour, which was always the signal for Bobby to go to collect his meal.

At first, the cemetery warden tried to keep Bobby out, locking the gate and boarding up holes, but eventually he gave up and let him stay – until the faithful dog died 14 years later.

Bobby was laid to rest at the edge of the cemetery. (Church rules forbade burying animals on “consecrated” soil.) But the people of Edinburgh built a statue there in his honor.

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